


So Beats the Final Coda

by livwrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Community: HPFT, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-07 00:04:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6775783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livwrites/pseuds/livwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Millicent Bulstrode just wanted them to stop. Story title from the song "Glass and the Ghost Children" by The Smashing Pumpkins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Beats the Final Coda

Screaming. Always screaming.  
  
They always screamed at each other after dinner. Every day, without fail, after dinner, they'd end up arguing. The topic always varied: one day it was his alcoholism, the next it was how he thought she was cheating on him. One thing was constant, every single day: they always took their anger out on her. Millicent never knew why they did, or what she had done to deserve their rage, misplaced as it was, but she was only ten and couldn't do anything, couldn't fight back.  
  
The only thing she could really do was cower in a corner or in the closet and wait for it to be over. Hope that maybe, this time, they'd pass out before getting to her.  
  
That hope was usually in vain.  
  
She could hear them yelling now; she didn't know what it was about this time, and, frankly, she didn't care. She just knew that she needed to leave this time.  
  
Their yelling sounded just as loud outside the house as it did inside of it. Millicent half-strode, half-ran down the driveway, fists clenched, chest heaving as she choked back sobs. Why couldn't she have a normal family? It didn't seem like an outlandish wish. She'd seen the other families on the block, seeming all happy and loving. It seemed unnatural, to have parents that supported you.  
  
As she reached the playground at the end of the street she raced up to the top of the play structure, sat down in a ball, and wrapped her arms around herself. She wasn't sure how, or why, her parents were still living together, or if they even loved each other. Millicent only knew one thing: she couldn't go back. Going back meant having to live with them until she went to Hogwarts and every summer until she graduated. She didn't think she could do that.  
  
Millicent just didn't know where to go. Sighing, she got down from the climber and walked towards the street. Maybe she'd just keep walking for forever.  
  
As Millicent got to the edge of the curb she tripped (over what, she didn't know) and fell heavily, arms out, onto the pavement. On her hands and knees, with tears in her eyes from the pain, she looked up in surprise as a bus pulled up in front of her out of nowhere. A man stepped off it and looked at her curiously.  
  
"Why are you on the ground?" he asked.  
  
"I fell," Millicent snapped, standing up and wiping her tears off her face. She sniffed angrily.  
  
"Well, hop on," he said. "Where do you want to go? Leaky Cauldron? Ministry of Magic?"  
  
Millicent stepped up onto the bus. "Leaky Cauldron," she said.  
  
A very short, hectic ride later, Millicent found herself opposite a dingy door. She hadn't had any money, or known what kinds of money he was even asking for (what were sickles?).  
  
Unsure of herself, she opened the door and walked through. Inside was crowded, dark, and dingy. There were people everywhere wearing strange clothing. She walked very slowly, not sure where to go or what to do.  
  
Millicent's eye caught something shiny on the ground. She bent over and picked it up, looking at it. It was a Galleon. Unsure what to do with it, she just stood there with it in her hand before coming to her senses and hiding it in her pocket. If her parents saw her with it they would take it away and beat her.  
  
A man, presumably the bartender, looked up from where he was standing at the counter and stared at her.  
  
"D'you want a room?" he asked gruffly.    
  
"I-" Millicent started, then stopped. "Yes," she said. She pulled the Galleon out of her pocket as she shuffled over to the counter. He took it and handed her a key. "Room 22. Do you want any change? It's two weeks room and board with the galleon if you don't."  
  
"No thanks," Millicent said slowly. She walked over to the staircase and slowly trudged up it. She couldn't explain how she felt. She'd left her parents, and felt relieved about that, but now she was by herself. She didn't know how she was going to live until she went to Hogwarts. She had to buy all her books and clothes, and she had no money.  
  
Right now her stomach felt like a giant pit. She wished that the pit could somehow reach up and swallow her whole.  
  
Millicent got to her room and opened the door. It was bare, with a small bed and a stand beside it. On the wall beside the bed hung a calendar. Millicent went to look at it. It was July 4. Her birthday.  
  
She didn't feel festive.


End file.
